Posts made by Miner Phil

Thanks, I appreciate the info ;D

I currently have 3 MSI R9 280x using a 1200W Gold PSU. I have ordered a 4th 280x. With little tech experience, I am just running everything default up to this point, happy and stable. Will my current PSU handle all 4 cards? I saw a rig building spec online that was showing a 6 GPU system using a 1300W PSU- so I figured I should be fine using that math. But now after reviewing this thread, I am not so sure! Don’t know anything about undervolting… but will that be my only hope with my current config, or is it possible I could squeeze in as is? From earlier post, someone said that 280x should be about 280W each and then rest of the system maybe 80W. Based on those numbers, that would put me right at 1200. Please advise- thanks!

I guess Overstock.com just moved up this launch by 6 months? Announced back on Dec 21st that they hoped to start offering bitcoin payment option by June or July 2014, but just noticed that they are now offering as of today. Not sure how they accomplished in 3 weeks what was anticipated to take 6 months. As solutions like this continue from other retailers moving forward and this becomes more accepted, I can’t see any reason they eventually will not start offering a few other alt currencies as well at check out. When you have potential buyers out there holding crypto, as a retailer why would you not want to offer them goods and services with open arms? I see this as an exciting development for not only bitcoin, but for the future of all crypto currency. The future indeed looks bright. ;D

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I just started mining a few days ago and selected weminefitc as my pool. The first 3-4 days the “luck” percentage was really low, although I did not realize it at the time. However in the last 3-4 days it has increased so I guess its just something to keep an eye. I really don’t have any comparison since I am just getting started. I just assumed that all the pools would basically be the same, except for the manner that the payouts are calculated, fees, etc.

(2) MSI R9 280X… each hitting 700-715 at about 68c (with a small external fan)

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Just wanted to send out a big thank you to the FTC community… I started this process back in late November, after a lot of research on BTC and LTC, I shifted my attention to FTC. Based on the professionalism of this site, friendliness and lack of apparent competition of this community, and the willingness to help others, regardless of prior experience or knowledge, I decided to jump in.

I started ordering parts in early December and although I have about 25 years experience as a video editor, my computer tech knowledge is pretty limited. The forum guides have been great, and responses from fellow miners have been spot on to make this a reality. The rig is up and running in a spare bedroom (my son is away at college) and the system has been stable with pool mining for about 36 hours now, churning away and depositing 5 FTC consistently to the wallet. I tried to explain all this to my wife, starting with the concept of BTC… but after about 10 minutes her eyes just kind of glazed over. Her main response was “how much is this costing us?” and “is this legal?” These first couple of days, I am constantly heading back there to make sure everything is still alive, temps are ok, etc., and she has now started to make fun of me as I go to check on my “babies.”

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Since I just got my rig up and going, I have been thinking about this issue as well. I am only at about 575 kh per card (MSI R9 280x) and would love tweak things up to at least 650 or so. (but also a bit concerned about trying to find the middle ground between really pushing the equip., temps, etc since I would love for this investment to keep churning away for an extended period) I just don’t know enough about what I am doing yet, so plan to proceed with caution. One of my cards was hitting 81c, but once I got a small fan today, it is running about 78. Is 80 a good threshold to stay below?

Thanks everyone- probably been a while since you had to help with such a basic problem on this forum!
I have been editing video on computers for years, but not really tech savvy.

Got the rig up and running last night, hash rates aren’t quite what I want yet, but everything is a go and we are mining FTC! However, my system is going to sleep after an undetermined amount of time once I walk away. Is there a simple setting somewhere that I need to disable so everything keeps churning away when I am not actually at the computer?

Amd Sempron 2.8 ghz 45w AM3 socket processor
Corsair 4GB XMS3 ram stick
CoolerMaster 1200W Gold PS
(2) MSI Radeon R9 280x GFX cards
ASRock 970 Extreme4 Mobo
32GB SanDisk SS driv
Windows 7 OS

Thanks Calem… I appreciate the support!

(edit) PLEASE DISREGARD… checked my connections one more time, reset everything and system is happy. Currently installing Windows!

I have an additional newbie question. Sorry, this is really basic, but my tech knowledge is limited. My GPU (MSI R 280x) has its own PSU connections on the top of the card, so in order to use risers, is it still recommended to use powered versions? I originally ordered powered risers, but cannot get the card to show up through that connection using the riser. The card reads fine when connected direct to mobo. However, when I try it with the riser, system can’t see it. (I may not have the PSU connected properly to the power plug on the powered riser- I have tried it connected and also unconnected to PSU) Since the GPU appears to have its own direct power, am I better off getting unpowered riser, or should I still be able to use the powered versions I currently have?

Thanks Tribesman +1… I missed that additional PSU connection to the CPU. That did the trick- we now have a live monitor! I will move on to step two tomorrow.

Thanks I appreciate the help!

Yes, power cables are plugged in at the top of the GPU… all fans are running. We actually tried plugging the card with PC riser first, and then just direct to MB as a test with no difference.

We are not getting any auditory beep upon powerup (not sure if there is any onboard speaker) However, we just get a “00” on the error display.

My son has left for the evening so hopefully we will pick back up tomorrow afternoon. I will continue to research online tonight and hopefully get a few ideas of what to try next.

All my elements have finally arrived so my son and I (OK, mainly my son) started the rig build today. Here are the specs:

Amd Sempron 2.8 ghz 45w AM3 socket processor
Corsair 4GB XMS3 ram stick
CoolerMaster 1200W Gold PS
(2) MSI Radeon R9 280x GFX cards
ASRock 970 Extreme4 Mobo
32GB SanDisk SS driv
Windows 7 OS

Still trying to get this machine to post. There is no integrated/onboard gfx option with this board to make things easy in the way of getting an OS installed, and/or updating assorted drivers. As it stands now having double checked the seatings and connections of the CPU/fan, single ddr3 stick, the GFX card slot, and all the power lines, the mobo turns on, all fans are running, and there are no errors depicted via the ASRock Dr.Debug onboard readout.

Neverthless, no signal is making it to the monitor. Currently I am using the DVI out off the card and not the HDMI. I am not sure if that makes a difference. I am aware of the notion that I may need to update the bios on this board to get some basic amount of plug and play. Unfortunately after looking into flashing the bios of this board, both methods revolve around the concept of being within the visual bios to do so, as opposed to flashing a bios with the mobo off. Does anyone have any idea of where I might take this troubleshooting from here? Any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

Good luck mate! I am still waiting for GPU’s and MB to arrive for my first rig… everything else is here so hopefully I can be up and running before the new year as well.

More info from the CEO of Overstock.com regarding their plan to accept bitcoin payments starting in June or July 2014. One of the things he mentions that is a major incentive for their decision is the potential savings in fees they currently are paying in credit card transactions. This simple fact has always been a no-brainer for me when it comes to the adoption of all crypto currencies for retailers moving forward. If it will save retailers large amounts of money, why will they not want to jump on board? Once the technical issues are solved regarding the actual transaction on their individual sites- so that it is a seamless, trusted process, I cannot imagine that more and more major retailers will not welcome this with open arms. The other major stumbling block is the current state of volatile values- but as the article discusses, that will just depend if these retailers choose to exchange back to fiat each day, or to keep some or all of their payments in bitcoin. Again, my opinion is that even though we are only discussing bitcoin, I firmly believe that once retailers and the public are accepting and trusting of these transactions, additional crypto currencies will become part of the process as optional methods of transactions.

[url=http://www.coindesk.com/overstock-unveils-more-details-bitcoin-adoption/?utm_source=CoinDesk+subscribers&utm_campaign=b8d884f7e1-EMAIL_RSS_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_74abb9e6ab-b8d884f7e1-75721013]http://www.coindesk.com/overstock-unveils-more-details-bitcoin-adoption/?utm_source=CoinDesk+subscribers&utm_campaign=b8d884f7e1-EMAIL_RSS_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_74abb9e6ab-b8d884f7e1-75721013[/url]

Overstock.com announces plans to accept bitcoins in mid 2014…

I think this is potentially big news for all alt currencies. As more and more major retailers start accepting bitcoins for transactions- either direct from their own site, or connected to a third party option, and as the public becomes more expecting of these payment options during online cart check out process, it stands to reason that at least some other currencies would follow and become available over time as well. And hopefully FTC is eventually positioned to be one of these currencies.

[url=http://www.coindesk.com/overstock-first-major-us-retailer-bitcoin/?utm_source=CoinDesk+subscribers&utm_campaign=f6824cc785-EMAIL_RSS_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_74abb9e6ab-f6824cc785-75721013]http://www.coindesk.com/overstock-first-major-us-retailer-bitcoin/?utm_source=CoinDesk+subscribers&utm_campaign=f6824cc785-EMAIL_RSS_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_74abb9e6ab-f6824cc785-75721013[/url]

I see no problem at all with marketing for FTC. The more people know about all digital alternative currencies, the better. I have not started mining yet (still waiting on ordered parts) but the whole reason I am here is because I first heard about BTC a year ago, and then over the last 6 months, there has been more and more press saturation . I had zero information or knowledge about digital currencies prior to the BTC ongoing news. Then after doing a little digging, discovered the exchanges and find out about LTC. And after a little more research finally found FTC. I am looking at this for the long haul- both mining and investing… and not for a quick financial gain. I see no reason digital currencies will not continue to be adopted as we move into the future- it makes too much sense not to succeed. There is no way of predicting which currencies will ultimately survive, but I feel confident that this concept is here to stay. And I do feel strongly about the “trickle down” current relationship between BTC/LTC/FTC and other currencies. (as overall transactions, mining difficulties, and coin values go up) For example, there has been more news lately that BTC is projected for increased acceptance by Wall St. investors. Even though that is specific to BTC, I think that can only be a good thing for all currencies in the long run. I think more people will continue to want to get involved at some level, and hopefully as adoption increases over time- more merchants will realize the benefits. So yes- any marketing can only help! :)

I wondered if this would translate to mining applications. The more important issue on the video editing side of things is the protection of “lost work” if you have a hard drive that crashes and you lose media or software/driver issues that can occur if the system does not shut down properly. I guess the main thing for mining rigs (just like an other electronics) might be protection against surges or storm strikes.Thanks for the clarifications.

I have not seen this anywhere on the forum, so I thought I would give my 2 cents. I highly recommend protecting your system with a battery backup unit. If you are spending 1K (or more) on a system that you intend to run 24/7, I think its a good idea to spend another $150 or so to protect against power surges, blackouts, lightening, etc. I am a video editor, and over the years I have utilized these things on all my edit systems and they have saved me numerous times. If you are not aware of its use- when you lose power, have intermittent surges, etc, the APC kicks on and continues providing your system with juice. (usually at least for an hour or two)

[url=http://www.amazon.com/APC-BR1300G-Back-UPS-Battery-10-Outlet/dp/B0038ZU2FC/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1387063026&sr=8-8&keywords=apc+battery+backup]http://www.amazon.com/APC-BR1300G-Back-UPS-Battery-10-Outlet/dp/B0038ZU2FC/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1387063026&sr=8-8&keywords=apc+battery+backup[/url]